Every July 4th weekend, Nathan’s Famous conducts its annual hot dog eating contest, which it has been running almost continuously since 1916! In an effort to promote its brand in China, Nathan’s Famous expanded the hot dog competition to its first Chinese regional qualifying event several weeks ago:
The sponsor, U.S. fast food chain Nathan’s Famous Inc., hopes to stir up excitement around its new outlets in China and has promised to send the top two winners of this event to compete in its annual international face-off in Coney Island to see who can cram the most wieners down the hatch in 10 minutes.
Hong Kong-native Chris Lam won the competition, cramming in a total of 16 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes – but pathetically low when compared to world record holder Joey Chestnut with *68* hot dogs! Chestnut, who was present at the event, demonstrated his prowess after the competition by eating 39 hot dogs in only five minutes.
With July 4th around the corner, it’ll be interesting to see if Takeru Kobayashi competes this year without causing any trouble and see if he can ever make a comeback to defeat Chestnut, who has won the competition the past four years. If there is one thing I know Americans can lead in, it’s eating!
